Soccer, aka football, is the most popular sport in the world.

Of all the professional leagues in the world, there is one that has achieved a level of success and competition above all others.

Spain's Campionato National de Liga de Primera Division, otherwise known as

La Liga, has that distinction. Learn more about La Liga in the history of football in

Spain on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily. This episode is sponsored by the Tourist Office of Spain.

I've talked about many of the festivals and traditions you can find in Spain, but Spain is also a great place to attend sporting events.

You can catch an El-classico game in Madrid or Barcelona. The Spanish Grand Prix is held on May 9th in the Circuit of Barcelona.

The Mayorca Championships are a professional tennis event held in the home of Raphael Nidal in June.

Or you can catch the Andalusia-Valdorama Masters in Andalusia, which was named Europeans Gulf

destination of the year. You can start researching your dream trip to Spain today

by visiting Spain. info where you can get everything you need to know to plan your Spanish adventure.

Once again that's Spain. info.

Soccer, which I shall hereby refer to as football for the rest of the episode to appease my European listeners,

didn't originate in Spain, but it did arrive there rather quickly.

In the late 19th century, Spanish workers and students who lived in England

brought back with them the game of football. The first football club formed in Spain

was Recreativa de Gualva which was founded in 1889 by British workers for the Rio Tinto Company.

The club still exists today and currently plays in the second division in Spain's professional

league.

Football clubs spread quickly through Spain in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

In 1992, the idea was floated to have a single elimination knockout tournament in honor of the

coronation of King Alfonso the 13th. It was called the Copa de la Coronation and it was won by a team from

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